The Half-Blood Princess by Mihaela Bogdan (best books to read for self improvement TXT) 📖

Boris traveled two nights from Bulgaria to Transylvania by foot. His wife Miranda and daughters, Scarlet and Rose, didn’t returned home after my party and their absence for a month made him worried. He was waiting outside the castle, near the front door, when we returned from the duel.
  -Miranda, my dear, you and the girls are fine! Boris said with a big smile, happily to see his family unharmed.
  -Of course we are, darling. Miranda respond while hugging her husband and kissing him lovingly. We are big girls, aren’t we? She asked looking at her daughters and pointing to them to come welcome their father.
  At first, the twins looked worried at me and hugged Boris only after I assured them that it is fine with me. When I saw them in their father’s arms, I gather all my courage to not cry in front of everyone. Luckily, Cornelius hugged me, leaning my head on his shoulder and tried to chase any thoughts about my father using sweet words. Somehow he managed to cheer me up a bit.
  -Cornelius, aren’t you welcoming your uncle? Boris asked him, keeping his arms wide open for his nephew.
  -Sorry, uncle Boris! Cornelius said and hugged him back. I want you to meet our new queen, Valentina Dracula!
  -It is a pleasure, your majesty! He said making a bow in front of me.
  -Please, sir, call me Valentina.
  -Alright, if you promise to call me uncle Boris then. He said laughing and hugging me as well. But where is your father … and Dragomir?
  It was clear that he had no idea what happened in the last month. Miranda and Cornelius told Boris that they will tell him everything. After we entered the castle before daylight; Cornelius, Henry and Antoine began telling Boris the whole story, with every detail perfectly explained. While the men were talking in the library, I and the twin sisters were in the bath room in front of my bed room, trying to get myself cleaned. Taking a bath after a battle was more painful than I imagined.
  My wounds were either dark purple, or red with bleeding openings and when the soup and water touched them, it was too painful to keep my mouth closed. Scarlet and Rose were doing their best to make it less painful and I appreciate their carefulness.
  -You’ve got bad looking marks on your soft skin, your majesty! Rose said worried.
  -”Your majesty”? I asked confused.
  -You are our queen now! Scarlet responded for her sister.
  -Scarlet, Rose! Although I am the queen of vampires now, you two, your parents and cousin, Cornelius, will be my new family after I will get married with Cornelius. So please, call me Valentina! I would feel awkward if my family addresses me with this title.
  Rose didn’t said anything else, she just nodded and hugged me and to our surprise, Scarlet did the same. She is cold and calculated like her mother, but now Scarlet let us see her good side.
  Come to think about it, I felt so alone after father, grandpa Daniel and aunt Linda died, because they were my family and I’ve lost them too soon. Now I will have another family and I made a promise to myself to protect them from any danger. I will not allow to lose this family as well.
  -Girls, is our queen clean now? I brought my secret lotion to help her injuries heal faster. Miranda said entering the bathroom with a small jar in her right hand.
  Scarlet and Rose left us alone and went in the library to join the men.
  -Now, your highness! I must worn you, it will hurt a little but it will do it’s job. Miranda said taking some lotion into her left hand and rubbing it on my wounds.
  -Miranda, I will tell you what I’ve told your daughters. Call me Valentina. I will be Cornelius’s wife soon, which means that his family, you, Boris, Scarlet and Rose will be my family as well.
  -Fine, Valentina. You already proved to us that you are a strong female vampire. You are more than perfect for my dear nephew.
  She helped me get dressed in a white and dark blue lace dress and we both went in the library. After I opened the doors, Boris came to my welcoming and hugged me, this time stronger than I thought, as if he wanted to break all my bones. When he released me, I saw something strange in his eyes:
  -I am sorry for your father Valentina, but do not worry. Cornelius said that you two will get married soon and I want you to know that I will be honored to walk you to the altar.
  -Thank you, Boris! I responded.
  -Uncle Boris! He corrected me.
  Before the wedding, we start cleaning the whole castle, to make it look as new as possible. It took us almost all summer, as the nights were shorter, but it was worth it. The outside walls have been repainted with white paint and the wooden parts of the castle were polished with a special paint to look shinny. The windows were washed and all the rooms and the objects and furniture in them were cleaned, repaired; or some really old or broken were replaced.
  When I was cleaning father’s bedroom with Cornelius, we found my parents wedding clothes. Father had black silk tails, with shinny polished black shoes, a white scarf with a red ruby on an end and a beautiful cape; black on the outside and light red on the inside with very fancy strings with a rectangular collar with sharp corners. Mother’s white bride dress was also beautiful, full of sparkling little golden rocks, laces with red flowers and a long veil, caught on one of it’s sides on a golden head band.
  We both gazed at them in silence. My trembling hands were holding both wedding clothes of my parents and their touch and smell made my eyes to cry. My tears were streaming down my cheeks and chin, making few wet spots on my parents wedding clothes. Seeing this, Cornelius took them away and came back to comfort me. He tried to calm me down with hugs and kisses, but the thought of not having my parents near me on my wedding day, made me sadder than ever.
  In the end I calmed down to Cornelius’s relief. I realized that my crying will make him feel bad for me and I didn’t want that.
  -Sorry you had to witness my moment of weakness! I apologized to him.
  -Don’t say that, love! You have every right to be sad, but I promise you that you’ll be the most beautiful and happiest woman in the world. I will make sure to be that way.
  His voice was so soft and worm, he changed a lot since I first met him and I was proud of him. He finally changed into a mature man. As a reward for his success, I gave him the biggest and the passionate kiss I could give.
  -What was this for? He asked giving me his usually sarcastic grin.
  -My wedding gift for you. I responded using my sarcasm as well.
  -We sure make a wonderful couple, don’t we?
  -Yes, we do!
  Who would’ve guessed that Cornelius will be the man I will marry?! When I first met him, he was rebellious, full of himself, selfish and the list can go on. At first, his words were irritating and all I wanted was to see him gone. But now, after all he’s done for me, since his father murdered mine, the love and care that he offered me during Miranda’s hard training and his change of behavior made me realize that he was perfect for me after all.
  Cornelius, my future husband. Life sure isn’t always black or white!

The first of September, eleven o’clock p.m., the town’s church.
  This were the time and place where all the vampires came to witness my wedding and crowning as queen. During summer, when I was busy with my new family and friends to clean the castle, the vampires that took over the small town outside the Black Forest didn’t waste time either. They also worked hard to clean the church and decorate the town for this special occasion.
  The town’s appearance was the same as I saw the first time, only it had lots of blue flaming torches to illuminate the streets, white and red laces with red roses; I came to notice that these flowers were the favorites of the vampire community; and the creepy statues were decorated with candles, to make them even more scarier.
  Judge John was now living in the church and Amen’s old house, which also was redecorated by the new owner’s gothic tastes. He kept all the icons and other religious objects, including the crosses and holly water, which proved that the mortals are wrong if they think that some holly water can harm us. The only change that he made was on the church’s outside. Before, the walls were white, but now they were painted in a dark shade of brown, looking like it was made from dark chocolate, the wooden pieces were also polished and the pictures of the saints on the inside walls were renewed.
  Again, I now realized how little knowledge the mortals have about vampires. They think that we are demons from Hell, that we fear God and all the saints, and again they were so wrong. Just because we are immortals doesn’t mean that we are not people deep inside our souls. It is sad the fact that a vampire is mistreated just because of his supernatural being and unusual behavior.
  Letting these facts asides, the church was full of vampires from the ground benches to the upper levels and even the ceiling.
  Judge John was standing in front of the altar with the bible opened in his hands. To his left was Cornelius dresses in my father’s wedding suit that we found, and near him his men of honor, Henry and Antoine, were looking without patience towards the front doors. They were waiting for my arrival, along with Scarlet and Rose as my bride maids. Miranda was sitting in the front row, facing her nephew and her daughters boyfriends.
  One of judge John’s sons was playing the organ slowly to calm the anxious atmosphere.
  -The place is full and they are excited for you to come! Rose announced happy.
  She and her twin sister were dressed in light green dresses, with pink laces around their lower parts of the dresses. They also had light pink gloves, from their wrists to their elbows, pink and white flowers in their bouquets, and their hair were tied up in two beautiful buns. I gave them two necklaces